Food & Wine Tour in Burgundy and the Northern Rhône

Arrive at Lyon or Geneva airports, or by train at Beaune or Dijon TGV stations. Greet your private driver and transfer to the charming city of Beaune. Check in to your comfortable room at the 4-star Hôtel de la Poste or another of our carefully chosen hotels in Beaune.

Your private Burgundy wine tour begins this afternoon with a 2-hour walking tour of historic Beaune, from its Roman era through the golden age of the Dukes of Burgundy and the wine merchants who built Beaune into the capital of Burgundy wine. Finish today’s tour in Beaune with your first private wine tasting in Burgundy!

The rest of your afternoon is free to visit more of Beaune’s boutiques, wine bars, and many excellent restaurants.

Wake up in Beaune and start your day with a hotel breakfast of local organic Burgundy products. Later this morning, meet your chef at her cooking school in Beaune for a private cooking class. On market days, you’ll have the chance to visit the weekly farmers’ market first. Together with your chef, shop for fresh ingredients for the day’s seasonal menu. Your cooking class in Beaune will teach you the techniques to make five or six traditional Burgundy recipes using fresh seasonal produce.

During this authentic Burgundy cooking class, your chef will introduce you to her personal favorite Burgundy wines and teach you about the art of food and wine pairing. Enjoy a 4-course lunch of the dishes you’ve made together, paired with local Burgundy wines.

The afternoon today is free to see more of Beaune on your own. If you love French mustard as much as we do, we recommend visiting La Moutarderie Edmond Fallot where you can learn how traditional Burgundy mustard is made. Try making your own batch and taste dozens of different varieties. From seed to jar, mustard has been an important part of Burgundy’s economy and gastronomy for centuries.

Following breakfast this morning, set off from your hotel with a local expert private driver-guide for a full day wine tour in Burgundy’s famed Côte de Nuits. Travel the Route des Grands Crus through the quaint villages of Fixin, Gevrey Chambertin, and Chambolle-Musigny as you drive along stunning landscapes of rolling hills and beautiful vineyards. With your expert driver-guide, discover the micro classification system called climats that gives Burgundy wines perhaps the most direct expression of terroir found anywhere.

After visiting several climats along the Route des Grands Crus to understand Burgundy’s natural landscape, enjoy a private wine tasting of prestige Pinot Noir in a private wine cellar. This commented experience will give you the opportunity to taste Pinot Noir from a variety of great Burgundy winemakers and deepen your knowledge of local terroir. You’ll also taste a selection of local Burgundy cheeses or fine French chocolate to pair with Côte de Nuits reds.

Break for lunch in a local restaurant before you continue along the Route des Grands Crus to the walled Clos de Vougeot, the largest grand cru vineyard in the Côte de Nuits. Take a guided visit of the Château du Clos de Vougeot to discover its ancient winemaking facilities and the monks’ cellar,

Constructed by the Cistercians between the 12th and 16th centuries.

End your day in the Côte de Nuits with an exclusive wine tasting of vintage Burgundy reds at a carefully selected estate before returning with your driver-guide to Beaune.

Enjoy a final breakfast in Burgundy this morning before transferring to the Beaune train station. Today, your wine tour in Burgundy transitions by train to Lyon, gateway to the Northern Rhône. Take in the countryside scenery out your window on the approximately 1 ½ hour direct journey to Lyon. Meet your driver on arrival at Lyon Part Dieu station and private transfer to the charming 4-star Hôtel de l’Abbaye.

Take some time to settle in and explore the neighborhood around your hotel in Lyon’s 2nd arrondissement. Free time for lunch and shopping until later this afternoon when your local guide will meet you at your hotel to begin a 2-hour private guided walking tour through the cobblestone streets of Vieux Lyon, the city’s old town.

Many consider Lyon the foodie capital of France. For dinner tonight, we can recommend an atmospheric bouchon serving traditional Lyonnaise cuisine, or something more contemporary. Lyon has a fantastic and diverse restaurant scene.

Begin today’s dive into Lyon’s culinary traditions with local homemade products of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region for breakfast, then meet your expert local guide at Hôtel de l’Abbaye to begin your private guided food tasting tour of Les Halle de Lyon Paul Bocuse. Discover Lyon’s gastronomic traditions with a food specialist as you sample local delicacies from the region’s finest food artisans. Learn about Lyon’s traditional restaurants, Bouchons Lyonnais and the city’s famous female chefs, les Mères Lyonnaises.

Traditional bites you’ll taste on your guided food tour in Lyon include a selection of Lyonnaise pork charcuterie specialties like Rosette, Jésus, grattons, Saucisson de Lyon and saucisson brioche. Try the local fish, Pike, in a traditional Quenelle – a kind of fish dumpling in pastry accompanied with a crayfish Nantua sauce. Enjoy pairing these rich Lyonnaise treats with local Côtes du Rhône and Crozes-Hermitage red wines. During your gourmet Lyon food tasting tour, you’ll also sample a variety of local Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes cheeses and truffle honey with Coteaux du Lyonnais or Mâconnais white wines. Sweets to complete this indulgent foodie experience in the Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse include Lyonnais macarons, blackcurrant and chestnut mousse, and tarte aux pralines.

After your morning food tour and lunch at the market, see another side of Lyon’s cultural heritage in the Croix-Rousse silk weaving district. Silk weaving has been an important part of Lyon’s culture since the 16th century and remains a vibrant economic industry to the present day. Walk in the shoes of a Lyonnais Canut as you weave your own silk textile on a miniature loom. Choose your materials, colors, and pattern and live a chapter of Lyon’s story in a hands-on silk weaving workshop.  See professional weavers create beautiful designs on intricate Jacquard looms and discover the daily life of the Lyonnais Canuts.

Today, your private wine tour in France will visit the Syrah vineyards of the Northern Rhône. Depart with your expert driver-guide after another delicious breakfast at Hôtel de l’Abbey and follow the Rhône River south towards Vienne. Take a moment to appreciate the captivating views of the Rhône Valley as you stroll through steep sloped vineyards in this challenging but spectacular terroir that yields spicy, dark fruited Syrah. Taste 5 or 6 Northern Rhône wines this morning reflecting the varied terroirs of Saint-Joseph, Condrieu, and Côte-Rôtie.

For lunch, we have booked you a table at one of our favorite local restaurants. Relax on the banks of the Rhône River while enjoying fresh seasonal cuisine.

Your Rhône Valley explorations continue after lunch as you travel further south along the river towards the famed Hermitage wine region. Syrah is an excellent grape for chocolate pairing. Before your next wine tasting, visit one France’s most important chocolate makers, Valrhona, in Tain-l’Hermitage for an interactive sensory experience. End your afternoon at another of our carefully selected wineries for a tasting of 5 or 6 different Northern Rhône wines from Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, and Cornas.

Return to Lyon after your full day Northern Rhône wine tour. To say farewell to Lyon, we recommend dinner in one of the city’s atmospheric bouchons. We’ll be happy to book you at a table at one of our favorites.

Your private Burgundy and Northern Rhône wine tour ends today after your last breakfast at Hôtel de l’Abbaye. Transfer to the Lyon airport or train station according to your departure.